Bubble Bath

John David wanted nothing more than to take advantage of the brand new bath tub at his grandparents' house. A few facts to note:

The bathtub had jets.

I left him alone - he is almost 10, afterall.

There were bottles of bubble bath beside the tub.

Two year old little brothers love bubbles too.

The pictures do the amount of bubbles absolutely NO justice!

A small video I took before I was discovered. I had a funnier one but it would require some blurred areas and I don't know how to do that. =)

Joshua Melts Me

As a mother there are certain moments that give you some great highs.

The first time they hold your finger.
The first smile (even though everyone says it's probably gas!).
First steps.
First time to use the potty.
First time they read.
First crush.

The list goes on and on.

You know what my favorite is?

When they learn to say I love you!

Joshua said it for the first time last week. "Love you, Mommy!" And then a sweet little slobbery kiss.

Sigh. Can I freeze time please?

In an effort to come back to reality from my super "Love you, Mommy" induced high, here are some other Joshua moments.

The child adores rolling around and digging in the cleared out vegetable garden.

I guess the soil is good too since he keeps trying to eat it.

And then there are markers. Oh the markers. Where do they come from??? Where does he get them??? Why does he lick them???

More importantly, why does he write on our floor with them???

(This would be just one of the many areas he "made his mark"......)

Good Mom, Bad Mom

Yesterday evening, all the kids were playing in the den while I did some housework. John David was suddenly hollering my name in a slight panic, so I ran to where they were, my mind busily running through a multitude of scenarios.

I had not considered what awaited me. At all.

There was Joshua, sitting on the hearth of the big fireplace, covered from head to toe in soot and ashes. Oh, for a picture!

I think he was very content, playing with this new found medium, until he tried tasting it. That's apparently where he drew the line.

I was frozen just staring at him trying to figure out what to do next. He was filthy! Currently, the only bathtub we have is out of commission (it's the next remodeling project! yea!), so baths have been happening in the big kitchen sink for the babies. BUT, the big kitchen sink was still filled with the crusty pot from dinner last night (hey, back off - it was soaking) and all the dishes from the dinner the kids has just eaten.

So with one hand I held him (getting my own clothes filthy in the process) and with the other hand I cleared out the sink. After a good, long scrubbing, he was finally kissable and squeezable again.

My question to you.....

Was I a bad mom for letting that happen in the first place?

or.....

Was I a good mom for handling it so cool?

I'm definitely leaning towards good mom. Don't you agree???

Budding Artist Uses My Door

Aulora felt the need to add her own decorating touch to one of the doors.
Can you see it? Lots of big crayon scribbles all over it.
All crayons have now been confiscated.

Recent 2 Year Old Moments

Aulora and Joshua were both up on the counter eating strawberries faster than I could clean and slice them. There was sticky strawberry juice everywhere after that.

Baby booty crack - does that ever get old?

She recently found a baby pacifier in her dolly basket and has taken to laying in bed sucking on it. She didn't want her picture taken, but I got this one real quick.

A couple of Sunday afternoons ago - church wears her out!

Yet another episode of marker all over herself.

Life would be soooo boring without kids.

Two All The Way

I love the age two. I think it's my favorite.

Even with all of the messes and fits and "I do it by myself" moments, it's just so wonderfully precious and sweet.

That's the age they are big enough to say "I love you" and to give you big hugs and kisses, but they're still a baby. Snuggling a two year old is the best.

They use the potty now and boy do their little bobos look cute while they're doing it!

They run, but their run is not perfected yet. It's still kind of wobbly and awkward. Adorable.

Their little hands seem to hold all the potential in the world. What will they be one day?


But, lest I forget some of the less than precious moments, I present to you some recent moments in our house......

First there's the artwork on the dresser.
(Her five year old sister joined in the fun on this one!)

Bedtime has become a little more of an issue. It doesn't help that she likes to change pajamas sometimes and of course she wants to do it by herself.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before she married her love of diaper cream with her love of coloring on the walls. She did this masterpiece in Joshua's room - this is just a small sample of the whole work.

Another medium my budding artist likes to use is toothpaste.

The best part is that there's only 9 more months before Joshua is two! I can't wait! ;)

Hairdresser in the Making

When Joshua woke up the other day I was in the middle of doing something. (I don't remember what it was. I promise it wasn't sleeping though!) I sent Julia in his room to play with him for a few minutes until I could get him. I thought she would give him some toys and play peek-a-boo....that kind of thing.

When I went in a few minutes later I saw this:

A closer look:

This was the final hairdo. (after Mommy quickly and secretly used a towel to dry off at least some of the poor baby's drenched head - less is more Julia, less is more!)

Not his best look, I'm thinking. =)

Oh How I Missed Her

We just got the girls back from John's parents. They were with them for two weeks and let me tell you, you can forget a lot in two weeks.

For instance, you can forget that it takes only a moment for a little monkus to make some serious mischief. Aulora was happily playing in my room last night while I did some work (okay, I was on the computer but I consider that work). I walked around my bed to check on her and found this:

Wait a minute - what do you have???

She wasn't sure if she was in trouble or not.

I think she figured she was okay since I was taking pictures.

I really heart that girl, messes and all.

I'm Raising a Monkey

Joshua has learned a new trick. It requires that we now put up the bunk bed ladder during the day when he's awake. I'm glad I saw him doing this and didn't find out the hard way!

Trapped

The other day I heard Aulora calling out to me in a panicked voice. I started my way down the long hall, poking my head into every room trying to find her. Finally I got to our bathroom and this is what I found:


She had gone in there and closed the door and couldn't get back out. She was quite distressed. I told her to wait there while I got the camera though. Poor girl.

(What's up with that dirty looking shower floor? It doesn't look like that in person. Really it doesn't.)

Gotta Love That Girl

This is a collection of mischievous things Julia has done. I used to keep a sidebar updated daily here on my blog. It turns out that God does love me and has finally allowed this child to grow out of her mess-making stage (mostly). For posterity, I am posting all of these in my archives. Enjoy. =)

She used a red rubber stamper she won at Chuck E. Cheese's to stamp the window sills and the pictures on the walls. So artistic.

She emptied the whole bottle of bubble bath into the tub in order to wash her stuffed toy ducky. Daddy told her no and to leave the bathroom. She was quite determined to blow dry that wet duck though so she snuck back in and used the blow dryer. Not a good choice.

She wanted Fruity Pebbles. All adults were busy. She climbed the shelves of the pantry and got the box & carried it to the table, leaving a huge trail of cereal behind her. The milk soon followed.

Put both big kids to bed tonight. Went in later to put Aulora down only to find baby dolls and toys everywhere and Julia in the crib snoring.

She decided she wanted to wash Strawberry Shortcake's hair. She put herself and her doll into the bathtub and got the doll wet. She soaped SS up in the sink and then rinsed and styled. Yea for water all over the floor, counter, and her clothes.

Well, today she was an artist. We had some glitter glue left over from a school project and I thought to myself, "Self, you better hide those from you know who." So I hid them way up in a pretty glass bowl where she would never find them. But find them she did. And today she decorated the grapes that were sitting out to snack on. Somehow, the glitter just didn't make them look more appealing.

I caught her hiding out in her bedroom wearing only her panties and going wild on a dum dum spree. She tried to cram the sucker sticks in her mouth really quick when I walked in so I wouldn't know. hahahaha. Serves her right. =)

I went in tonight to make sure she was covered up and asleep. I found white goopy stuff all over the soap bottle, the towel, in the sink and on the counter. My nose is stopped up so I couldn't really smell it to know what it was. I started looking around to find the source and finally found my tub of body butter open on the floor with big empty spots where she had scooped it out. Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

This is a gross one.....we were looking through old pictures together on the computer today. We came across one that I took solely for the purpose of one day proving to her what a horrible child she was to potty train. It was a picture of a perfect little poopoo log sitting on my bookshelf. I still have no idea how she did it, but she did. I have the picture to prove it. Anyway, a couple hours after looking at pictures I found her naked in my room. Naked+Julia=Trouble. Every time. Before I could even get an explanation I could smell it. Oh yes. "WHERE'S THE POOPOO? TELL ME NOW!" That child pooped another perfect little poopoo right on my floor beside my dresser. She tried to hide it by putting my purse and a basket in front of it. Man I was mad. She got a spanking for that one. I have no doubt that if my bookshelf wasn't in storage she would have pooped on it, just like in the picture. Gross......

Poor little Alex, the elephant webkin that lives in our house, got a bath today. He didn't want one, but he got one anyway. The bathroom looked so lovely afterwards. There were dirty footprints in the tub, water all over the floor, wet towels strewn about, and of course, the soggy wet elephant himself sitting on my bathroom counter. All because she wanted him to smell so nice and pretty. Gotta love it.

The mess of choice last night after she was supposed to be in bed was getting up and putting toothpaste on all the toothbrushes. She doesn't have very good aim though so there was toothpaste on the counter and the drawers too. A big goopey sticky blue mess I got to find the next morning. Maybe I should chain her to her bed at night. Or at least put a big cowbell around her neck.

Oh my word. All I can say is lipstick, nail polish and lip gloss. I was RIGHT there in the room and she still managed to be destructo girl. I need a nap.

She was hiding out in my closet tonight when it was bedtime. What was she doing? She had taken the bulletin board off the wall I use to hang my jewelry (yeah, I know I'm fancy) and she was playing with all of it. She "just wanted to wear a pretty pink necklace". So now there's necklaces and bracelets ALL over my closet floor. Ughhhhhh.....

She wanted some Frosted Flakes because she was "starving" and I wasn't RIGHT THERE so she took matters in her own hands. I came running when I heard a big crash. She had gone into the pantry, closed the door behind her, climbed on top of the trashcan, grabbed the cereal box and then fell off the trashcan. This caused cereal and trash to go everywhere and knocked over lots of bottles and kid cups. Arghhhh.......

Sunday morning I dressed the girls in beautiful new (to us) matching dresses that were very expensive. (Not that I myself paid lots for them. I'm a bargain shopper!) They both looked so pretty and I was a happy mommy. We got to church and I looked down to discover that Julia's beaded flower that went on the front of the dress was gone. GONE! She had taken it apart, petal by petal, and left nothing but the silver backing in its place. I still haven't found the petals. Arghhhhh.

We got out of the van a few days ago to hand the girls over to a babysitter and the babysitter's mom looked down and noticed that Julia's panties were hanging from the cuff of her blue jeans!?! That was a funny moment. They must have gotten misplaced when she went potty. =)

It never fails - when we're at Chuck E. Cheese's, as soon as I say we're leaving Julia runs and gets inside the playplace equipment. At least she's now old enough to understand when I use mommy sign language to tell her to get her booty down NOW.!

Yesterday Julia was rubbing lotion on my legs. She was having a great time while I watched tv so I wasn't paying too much attention. When it was time for me to get up she said,"hehehehe! You have sticky legs! hehehehe!" She just kept giggling like that and proudly told me that she had rubbed apple juice on my legs. "hehehehehe!"

Playdough on my bed. On my bedspread. Do I need to elaborate?